Browsing: DADT

Pfc. David Lawrence, 20, faces a military hearing in Ft. Carson, Colo., in the shooting death of a senior Taliban commander being held prisoner in Afghanistan. Lawrence’s alleged shooting of Mullah Mohebullah in the head Oct. 17 while on guard duty at an Arghandab detention center has added fuel to diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Afghanistan. Lawrence’s parents say their son is delusional. His civilian lawyer said the Army may be rushing the case to appease Hamid Karzai: “We are going to an Article 32 for a kid who is hearing voices,” he said. [via Los Angeles Times] A…

Katherine Miller, who quit West Point in August, said she would come back in the Army – if “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is repealed. The admitted lesbian told the Associated Press that she left the U.S. Military Academy to fight the policy and because she couldn’t keep lying about her sexuality. Miller, who is now attending Yale University, said the end of DADT would help the military by opening it up to more qualified candidates. At the time of her departure, Miller was the ninth-ranked Cadet in her class of 1,157, and boasted a grade point average of 3.829. She…

Several soldiers from the 4/23 Battalion, who confessed to using steroids, estimated that more than half the unit of some 700 soldiers had sampled steroids, according to investigative documents obtained by The Seattle Times under the federal Freedom of Information Act. One soldier had a scheme for continuing steroid use in Afghanistan through the receipt of mail-order packages that would disguise the drugs in lotion packets. [via Seattle Times] Soldiers accused of breaking into a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary and then accidentally locking themselves inside told police they planned to destroy the marijuana — not smoke or sell it. [via…

A 41-year-old soldier from Fort Riley, Kan., faces charges in Connecticut that he sexually assaulted the 13-year-old daughter of a friend. He had arranged to meet the girl on Facebook, picked her up at her father’s house and took her to a motel. The girl’s mother found a message from her daughter worrying she was pregnant, and a reply from the soldier, worrying he’d go to jail. [via Metro Source News/KSAL-Radio] An Alabama jury watched a videotaped confession of a homeless, Iraq vet with mental health issues who kidnapped, robbed and murdered an 18-year-old Auburn University freshman. In his chilling…

Anti-DADT activist Dan Choi, a former infantry officer, is under attack for using sexist language to lambaste Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Choi may be persona non grata in the military these days, but his comment reflects a negative current in the services.